Violent shoplifter jailed for assaulting supermarket staff who caught him red-handed in M&S
A violent shoplifter has been jailed after targeting two Chorley supermarkets in search of vodka.
Drunken Anthony Bradley was thwarted by shopworkers and police in the town centre as he tried to walk out of both M&S and Booths with bottles of booze.
At the M&S Foodhall in Union Street he was involved in an aggressive confrontation with three members of staff, shoving one woman over fridges, attempting to headbutt a male worker and lunging at all three.
When he was forced to leave the store empty-handed he simply walked across the car park and stole two bottles of spirits from nearby Booths in New Market Street.
Bradley, who was said by a judge to have a “shocking” record of stealing from shops, pleaded guilty to a charge of affray resulting from the M&S incident and one of theft from Booths when he appeared for sentence at Preston Crown Court.
He was sent to prison for a total of eight months and saluted Recorder Jeremy Lasker as he was led from the dock to the cells.
The court was told the 42-year-old, of Stanley Place, Chorley, had 57 previous offences on his record, many of them for shoplifting. In a number of those incidents he had become violent when confronted by shop staff.
On July this year he entered M&S Foodhall at around 4pm and was seen to have a bag inside his jacket. Staff became suspicious and monitored him as he walked around the store.
He was spotted taking two bottles of vodka from a shelf and walking to another aisle where he put them in the bag inside his clothing.
When a female member of staff approached him he ran to the end of the aisle, but the woman grabbed him by the arm and told him to put the items down. She told him: “I’ll let go if you drop the bag.”
Two male members of staff ran over to help. One grabbed Bradley and he reacted by pushing all three staff members, causing the woman to land on food fridges and hurt her arm.
The staff continued to restrain him at which point he tried to headbutt one of the men but did not make contact. He was escorted from the store, but he continued to be aggressive and lunged at all three of them.
When he was finally ejected, minus the bottles of vodka, Bradley walked over to Booths 40 yards away and stole two bottles of spirits from there, worth £56.
Two police officers in the vicinity stopped him and arrested him. At the police station he denied having assaulted anyone.
The court was told he had 29 previous convictions involving 57 offences. After an initial prosecution in 2000 for burglary his record had comprised mainly off shoplifting, with a number of those thefts involving violence.
Defence barrister Ms Hari Kaur told the judge Bradley’s offences were serious and he was aware he was facing a prison sentence.
She said he had been under the influence of alcohol at the time. The violent outburst when confronted by staff had been “typical” of his behaviour in previous shoplifting offences.
The incident in Chorley had been “embarrassing” for him and he had since attended meetings of both Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous.
Recorder Lasker told Bradley: “This is a situation you have been in many times. I am told you were drunk at the time.
“To make matters worse, once you had been ejected from M&S you simply went over the road to another store where you stole two other bottles of alcohol. So the incident at M&S had had no effect on you.
“You have a shocking record really. You started your offending over 20 years ago and it has been regular offending ever since. I have no doubt that at the root of it all is a problem with alcohol and possibly with drugs and many of the offences on your record relate to this type of (violent) shoplifting.”
The judge said Bradley had been sentenced in various ways over the years “but it goes without saying that none of those sentences have had any real beneficial effect.”
And he added the staff had been upset to be violently abused “simply for doing their job”.
“It is really outrageous that they have to deal with people like you day in day out, people who will not learn their lesson.
“I am afraid that in my view only an immediate custodial sentence today is appropriate.”
He sentenced him to six months for affray and a further two months consecutive for theft, making a total of eight months.